Talkeetna man self-identifies as confirmed case of COVID-19

A Talkeetna man says he and his wife tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this month.

Michael Brickel reached out to KTNA this week and says both he and his wife, Valera, tested positive for the disease shortly after Independence Day. Since then, he says they have been self-quarantining.

Brickel says for him, COVID-19 began as a feeling of being “run down.”   He later developed a high fever.  He says he was tested on July 5^th, and in the time it took for him to receive test results, he began feeling better.  Now, he says he is back to working outside at his home.  Brickel says his wife also tested positive, but never developed symptoms.

It is often difficult to know when there is a confirmed case of COVID-19 in parts of the Northern Susitna Valley, due to the way the Department of Health and Social Services reports for different communities.  When a community has fewer than 1,000 residents, cases are classified as “other.”  In the Mat-Su Borough, that could mean Talkeetna, but it could also mean Trapper Creek, Chase,  or a number of other small communities, some of which are on the other side of Palmer.

DHSS says the reason for not specifying which small communities have confirmed cases is due to federal regulations for patient privacy.  A frequently-asked-questions page states that it could be possible in some instances to identify a COVID-19 case in a small community based on the non-identifying demographic information that is provided in daily updates.